字の旅3,000 years in three forms
Bronze · ZhouZhou · c. 1000 BCE
Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
部首Radical · in States & Attributes
幺
幺 short thread, tiny
いとがしら itogashira
3 strokesRadical of 4 kanjiPart of 8
Your ink in 幺0% painted · 0 of 4 familiar
Origin · sourced
Pictogram象形
Depiction of a silk thread.
Source: Wiktionary, 幺 (rev. 93811787), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“A tiny beginning! This radical represents the smallest, thinnest piece of thread—one so fine it is almost invisible to the eye. When you see it at the top of a kanji, think of things that are minute, delicate, or just starting to grow (like the first "young" sprouts of an idea). It brings a sense of extreme fineness, subtle details, and the fragile nature of youth to its characters.”
Where it sits in a kanji
Indicates extreme smallness (tiny), youth or infancy (thin threads of life), subtle or hidden details, and the concept of something starting as a small loop.
育つ
What it grows into
Built from 幺, with sourced origins
一覧
Every kanji with 幺 as its radical
Most used first
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
All 4 kanji